Shadow's Abyss
by Generic Dragon
Summary: Chapter 4- Thomas and Cecile encounter a strange elf, whom claims is a friend of the elf, Nei. She casts a spell behind the Master and Commander's back, into the fountain that contains koi that have appeared. What will happen...?
1. Prelude

**DISCLAIMER**: I do NOT own Suikoden III... Reality sucks

**Note**: This story is based on the assumption that Hugo was the Flame Champion's successor, because he's who I picked. And the fact that I changed Budehuc's name in the game. If you people don't like it, just let me know and I'll change it back to Budehuc. Pairings may/probably will include... Geddoe/Queen, Jacques/Aila, Chris/Percival, and Thomas/Cecile. Possibly Hugo/OC, not assured though. Ya, a lot of pairings, but this fanfic will be like the game: divided up into the characters' point of views. (Just note, I wasn't able to get all 108 stars of destiny, more like 70, sadly, so I wont use the characters I don't know about. But I know most of them, so no worries.)

A/N: Sorry if the first chapter seems a bit out of character, but, ya, I'm on a sugar high writing this (soda heaven... -; A bit too much like Aila.. Ah well.) R&R please. The chapters will get better and longer -

**Shadow's Abyss**   
**Prelude**

Hugo paced before Thomas's desk in the meeting room, spinning on his heel as he walked back and fourth, lost in thought.

The large double doors creaked open, and the Master of the castle walked in. Thomas turned a worried glance on the Flame Champion's successor, and slowly trotted up to him. "Erm... Hugo, what's worrying you?" Thomas asked carefully, staying a few feet back.

Hugo looked up at Thomas, and combed his hand through his ivory, brown tipped hair, and sighed. "Nothing, Master Thomas, I'm just thinking."

Thomas nodded, and straightened up, "Oh, yes, Hugo...?" Hugo looked in his direction, "Ya?" "A majority of the army are going to be leaving within the next few days, including Geddoe and Chris and their parties. Do you wish a meeting before this?"

Hugo looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yes, ok. Gather them and we shall meet in this room at noon tomorrow." Thomas nodded, and turned to leave.

The next day...

Hugo, Lucia, Dupa, Chris, Geddoe, Thomas, The Duck Chief, and Caesar all gathered at noon in the meeting hall. Thomas spoke up first. "And I assume you will all be going back to your homelands sense the war is over?"

Lucia took a step forward. "Something has been troubling us, actually. I have a feeling that won't leave. The spirits have been restless lately... Something is soon to happen..." Hugo walked up behind his mother, and shook his head. "Whatever it may be, it can't be worse then what Luc tried to do..." Lucia looked behind herself to her son, "Maybe... Just keep your awareness up, everyone."

Chris shook her head, "Humph. I'm taking my Knights back to Zexay del Venay for the time being, we can keep a truce together for now..." She said slowly. Lucia sighed, "I will head back to Karaya to help with the re-building."

"I will go with her," Hugo offered, and looked towards Thomas. Thomas, in turn, looked at Geddoe, "And what of you? Will you be returning to Caleria?"

Geddoe opened his visible eye, and remained silent for a few minutes. "Yes, we will be heading back to Caleria." Thomas shook his head in agreement with him briefly.

Dupa and the Duck Clan chief announced they shall go back to Grasslands as well, and everyone left.


	2. Return to Karaya

**Disclaimer**: I no own Suikoden III or anything else... Hmph.

**Note**: Hm, I seemed to notice people like Chris/Hugo over Chris/Percival. Problem is, I don't like the Chris/Hugo pairing (Ya, I bet you think I'm crazy. Oh well) I'll just take it out entirely then Xx Unless you people can make any better suggestions?

**Shadow's Abyss**

**Chapter 1-A-Hugo: Return to Karaya**

Hugo was awake early the next morning, and was trying to kick his duck friend awake.

"Quack! Hugo, it isn't even sunrise yet!" Complained Sergeant Joe, who swished a wing at him. Hugo jumped back slightly, and smirked. "But I _said_ we were going to leave at sunrise," he said, poking at the duck.

Sergeant Joe finally got up. He and Hugo gathered up needed supplies, and went out into the courtyard very shortly before sunrise. Lucia had joined them shortly after. "How many of us are going to be coming?" Hugo asked when he saw her come by. Lucia turned to him, and tilted her head, "A majority of them, I would imagine. Every one should help rebuild our home at least by a small amount."

A screech was heard not to long after Lucia discontinued her speaking. "Darn griffon!" Shouted a voice that was all too familiar. Fubar quickly dashed to Hugo's side, looking a bit disgruntled.

Lilly stomped over to Hugo, glaring slightly at Fubar, "You're going back to Karaya, eh?"

He only nodded, and sneaked a quick glance at Sergeant Joe, who shrugged and shook his head.

She put her hands on her hips, "Hrrrmmph. I can't exactly return to Tinto at this moment, so I will be going with you."

Hugo sighed in exasperation, "We are going back to help rebuild the village, you know," he said, looking towards her. "You think I'm going to perform manual labor?"

"Yes," Sergeant Joe replied sarcastically, becoming annoyed at the girl. "Uck! I can't believe you, you duck!"

"Why can't you go back to Tinto, anyway?" Hugo interrupted quickly before an argument unfolded between the Sergeant and Lilly.

Lilly tilted her head, and shrugged, "I was ordered to not come back... My father said he would be away."

"Away from you," mouthed the Sergeant. Lilly, however, seemed to have caught it. "Grr... Anyway, Samus! Reed! Get your lazy selves over here!"

The two grumbled, and walked over, "Yes, Milady?" Samus said somewhat disdainfully. "We are going with the Karaya Chief and her son, got it?" "Yes Milady," the two slurred, and shrugged.

They left not to long after the reunion, and many of the people were already getting tired of the non-stop bickering of Lilly.

Hugo shook the reigns of the Karayan horse he was riding, and trotted a little ways ahead of the group, realizing that if he stayed neared Lilly too much longer, he would probably try to gut her. He also wanted to keep a look out for monsters.

The trip from the castle back to the ruins of Karaya didn't take very long, a week at maximum. The monsters seemed to have settled down and not prefer to bother the group throughout the trip, despite Lilly's continuous loudness.

They returned to Karaya to find that the rebuilding had already starting, and it was coming fairly well. Lucia walked up behind Hugo, who had dismounted his horse. "Come, son, let's see who as returned," and with that, the two wandered into the village. Followed by Fubar and Joe, and any other villagers who traveled with them. Lilly, Samus, and Reed stayed behind while Lilly 'whipped' them into shape on how to behave here.

Which was a bad idea.

She had told them to stay and watch for monsters, but lacked to mention what to do if someone or something appeared.

A day passed sense they had gotten back, and the two were still out on guard duty, to their dismay. Hugo walked up behind them, "What're you two doing here?"

"Miss Lilly told us to keep guard," Reed said, turning around. "Ya, well, 'Miss' Lilly can go chew on some grass. You should come in and take a look around now. We've stopped for today to say hello to family members and friends. You two may not be Karayan, but you can still come join us."

Reed shrugged, and turned around to see is Samus had heard. "Sa—hey, why did you go all the way up there?"

Hugo walked up to Samus, who was at the large hill. He looked around, and saw a horse, unlike one he had ever seen, galloping toward the village. "Hmm..."

The rider looked to be Karayan, but Hugo wasn't sure from the point he could see. He jogged down the hill and closer to the gate to see if this person was coming to the village.

Ok, that's for Hugos first POV, next will be Chris, I should think... ::shrugs:: depends who I wanna release next.


	3. Troubles in Yaza

**Note**: I'm changing this around a bit. I'm only going to focus on Hugo's, Thomas's, and Geddoe's POVs, because writers block has hit me when I was writing for Chris(That and the fact that she isn't one of my more... favored... characters...) . She will still be incorporated into the story somehow, but I don't know how...

**Shadow's Abyss   
Chapter 1-B Geddoe: Troubles in Yaza**

Celebrations hadn't ended early for some members of the Harmonian Southern Frontier Defense Force, so it seemed. Ace was having one hell of a time trying to drag Joker out of bed, at about three hours to noontime.

He has been trying to get Joker out of bed for an hour, but was failing miserably. "Arg! Wake up old man!" Joker opened a weary eye, and sat up. "What?" He asked drearily, and shook his head. "We are _leaving_, remember?" Ace said, furrowing his eyebrows. "Oh yes, that's right... Now get out!"

Ace growled, and stormed out of the room, and went to gather up the rest of the sleeping members, if they were still asleep.

Aila had decided to stick with them, for reasons only Ace was too thickheaded to see. She trotted up to stand next to Queen, who was standing in the courtyard. "Where is everyone?" Aila asked loudly. Queen turned around, and shrugged. "They should be here soon enough. See, here comes the simpleton, Ace," she said this loud enough for Ace to hear. Aila giggled slightly, and watched as an aggravated Ace came around.

"Were you able to wake up Joker?" Queen asked, a hand on her hip. "Yeah, yeah." He said, stretching.

Geddoe appeared a few minutes later, followed by Joker. "Are we ready to leave?" Geddoe asked, looking from Ace, to Queen, to Aila, to Joker. "Yeah, we should be. Where's Jacques?" Queen asked.

"Here." Said a male's voice. Jacques wandered out from behind one of the stores, and walked up to stand not to far away from Aila. "Ok, then let's get a move on. ... Where are we going first, boss?" Ace asked.

Geddoe turned his head in Ace's direction, "Brass Castle first."

They left after a few other arrangements, including stopping by Karaya for supplies on their way to Caleria.

The wind had picked up relatively fast out on the Yaza Plains, and the crew was way behind schedule. Monsters could be seen crawling out of their holes, and many seemed to want to attack them. Aila notched an arrow, and pointed her bow in the direction of a blue dragon that had suddenly attacked, not to mention two green and white birds.

The monsters on the plains seemed to have gained a large amount of intelligence lately. They were seen from far distances, gathering into groups and flying or running southwest, towards the crew's destination. Only the monsters they came across stopped to fight, many getting killed on the spot.

Aila shoot yet another arrow as a rabid bunny jumped out at her. Geddoe and Queen each had a small dragon to worry about, and Joker, Jacques, and Ace all had a small band of birds pecking at them.

"We'll never get to Brass Castle at this rate!" Complained Ace after the fighting, folding his arms over his chest. "We have only gone across half the distance sense noon, and it's nearly dusk!"

"We might have to find a place to hid close to here and camp the night out." Geddoe reasoned after a few moments of silence. "With the amount of monsters out?" Queen asked, looking around.

"Why are a majority of the creatures going in the direction of Brass Castle, anyway?" Joker wondered aloud. Geddoe turned around, thinking to himself.

"It feels... Like there are evil spirits about..." Aila said quietly, looking about. "Evil... Spirits?" Ace said in disbelief, looking at her. Jacques also glanced over.

"Yeah, and the earthly spirits are distraught. They say there is something horrible in the land," Aila said, putting her hand to her mouth for but a moment. Ace opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Anyway, before it gets too dark, we should find a place to camp out. Unless you want to travel through the night." Geddoe said, turning around again to face the rest of the group.

"Either choice would be dangerous, why don't we just found a cover of trees? I mean, we are close to the forest borders." Queen suggested.

Aila nodded at her suggestion, "That would be a good idea. Trees provide better shield from the elements then when out in the open."

"Ok. Let's move." Geddoe said as he started off towards the nearest grouping of trees.

The short trip to a grove of trees, elm-like trees to be precise, was short indeed. Most of the trees didn't go far up before the branches started to become gnarled, and split up. Perfect for someone to climb up and sleep or sit in one. And the branches were thick enough to support any one of them. The branches also were covered with enough vegetation to protect them fairly well from rain and wind.

Which was a good thing. The moon was fully visible from their point in the grove, yet dark, gray swirling clouds soon took refuge in the sky. "Ahhh... Damn, it looks like it's going to rain," Ace groaned loudly, and sat down under a thick branch.

Queen and Geddoe relieved their travelling packs by another tree, and Queen looked up. "Ya, and it looks like it might pour heavily too. Is the cover of the trees good enough?"

"Enough to not get soaked," Jacques said quietly, standing on a branch of one of the trees about seven feet above their heads, "The trees are thick...... Very little chance of rain getting through."

Aila look straight up at him, and shrugged, picking her spot to sit by the trunk of the tree Jacques was standing in.

Joker took his seat on a tuft of soft grass, and crossed his arms.

The wind started to pick up, blowing roughly through the small group of trees, and out on the plains, and the group can hear the rain splashing onto the canopy of the trees.

Jacques jumped down from his perch after the decreasing temperature dropped, and stood behind Aila as she was handed a blanket from Queen.

She pulled out yet another blanket, tossing it lazily over to Ace. Then she realized that there was only one blanket left.

"ACE!!" She cried out angrily, spinning around. "I _thought _you got _ALL_ of our supplies?!"

"Uh... Er..." He hesitated, and smiled stupidly. "I guess I forgot..."

"Grr, your such a dumb ass, I TOLD you to pack extra provisions! I look in here, and we don't have enough to go around. Thickheaded forgetful sloth."

Aila stared at Queen, mouth hung opened slightly at the way she had gotten angered. "Uhm... How about a fire then? I'm sure it'll stay lit until we can fall asleep," Aila offered, "If those monsters out there will quiet down."

"That might work, hopefully the wind won't blow it out. But don't have the timber box for it, _Ace_," Queen looked over at him. They all could have sworn she had grown fangs right then.

"Uhm, uhm... Why don't we share the blankets then?" Aila blurted out with a visible shiver down her spine as the wind continued to roar. "Oooh? I don't know... Hmmm," Queen said, "Lets try to find _something_ to help us get a fire started..."

"Oh! I know, someone can go gather up some wood, and sense Joker is sober, he can light a fire up for us," Ace said quickly. "Where did you find a brain?" Queen spat, and crossed her arms.

They got through the rest of the night, even though the constant roar of the wind would wake Queen or Ace, maybe Aila, up every now and then.


	4. The Strange Visitor

Disclaimer: Well, I surely wish I owned Suikoden III, now that I've beaten it, with the 108 stars bonus ::big smile:: But, that, will not ever happen .

Reviewers:

MotherOcean- Thanks, I think. I truly have no interest in that at all, so I'll just leave it be… Perhaps…

Moon Dusk- Well, thank you too. More descriptive eh? I'll try, although, it's been several months sense I've written a fic… Why are you afraid of OC romances? Besides, I said it was a maybe, not a positive… I'm not sure if I even want to do it -

Salacassera- Ok, I'm glad I've gotten your interest thus far.

Cathy 7- Thanks. Oh yes, you shall see what happens : )

**Shadow's Abyss**

**Chapter 1-C Thomas: The Strange Visitor**

Thomas walked out into the courtyard, just a few days after Hugo, Chris, and Geddoe had left, and stopped by the fountain. He looked into the water, and leaned down to better inspect the kois that had been put into the fountain for some reason by a visiting duck.

He saw several koi, to many to really count. One he saw of paticular interest seemed to be the largest one. It was maybe the size of his fist if clentch up, and as long as the point from the tip of his fingers, to the last bone in his wrist. The fish has dull blue-gray scales, with white speckles dotting all over the body. The dorsal and tail fins are light pink, and it has a single red stripe running along each side of the fish, starting from behind the eye, and ending just a few centimeters shy of the tail.

He stood back up to realize that Cecile was talking to someone that had come up to the castle gates. He walked across the damp grass, which had grown exceptionally long within the past few months, and so, he felt the ends of his trousers become damp while he walked. He paid no attention to this, however.

The person that was being literally interviewed by Cecile wears a long, black cloak. The hood is down, and the woman under the robes shook out her silvery-blue colored hair, and blinked as Cecile droned on and on about something of this castle being free trade area. The woman has pale skin, and rather large, brown eyes. Long, pointed ears poked out of her wavy hair, indicating she is of the Elven heritage.

"Hem, uhm, I am looking for the Master of this Castle… Er… Excuse me?" The elf was trying to get Cecile's attention, but she had turned around and ran off to meet with a boy about her age, with brown hair and eyes. The elf walked after Cecile, hoping she would run into the castle master after this.

"Cecile! Why did you just leave her waiting?" Thomas asked, but looked up and saw the elf coming toward them. "Er, uh, s-sorry Master T-Thomas," Cecile said quickly, bowing her head in regret. "That's ok, Cecile."

The elf stopped right before smacking into Cecile, and cocked her head to the side. "Uh… Excuse me, would you be able to direct me to the Master of this castle?" Thomas side-stepped, and stepped infront of the elf. "I am Thomas, master of the Vey-Ryu Castle. Have you come to open up a shop…?"

The elf chuckled slightly, "Oh, no, not I. I've come to stay for awhile, so I may visit a friend that said she had came to this… unusual castle. You don't mind, do you?" Thomas shook his head, "No, of course not. Who is your friend? If you don't mind my asking," he said curiously, tilting his head. "Oh, ah, her name is Nei…" "Oh! You mean the Elf performer?" Cecile asked loudly, smiling. The elf nodded her head. "Yes. I'll be going now."

Thomas nodded, and watched as the elf, clad in black, walked off towards the castle. The elf stopped by the fountain and bent down, taking in a look at the fish. She held her hand out over the water. Her hand started to glow a pale purplish color, and the magic seemingly zapped the water. By this time, Thomas had already turned around and was listening to Cecile talk about something or another.

The elf stood up, satisfied, and walked away towards the castle.

Rain clouds started to form over the castle once again. The dark gray clouds threatened bad weather with a crack of lightning, and the pound of thunder. Cecile looked up at the sky, and blinked as a raindrop fell on the skin between her eyes. "I don't think anyone else will come today, Cecile," Thomas stated, turning his head towards her, "Why don't you come inside so you won't catch anything?"

Cecile turned toward him, and frowned slightly. She stamped her spear on the grass, which was continually becoming wetter and wetter, and firmly declined. "I have my duties…" "But Cecile, I don't want you to catch a cold. The thunder storm might get to big, please come inside." Cecile sighed softly, and shivered as the rain hailed down upon them suddenly. "B-but," she said shakily, her skin getting colder thanks to the wind that had suddenly picked up. "Cecile," Thomas said sternly, grabbing her hand, and squeezing it slightly, "I doubt anything will wander up to the castle in this weather, unless it is some form of aqua monster."

"Oh! Then I must watch out for those!" She said suddenly, standing straight and pulling her hand away. "… Please, Cecile? Don't _make_ me drag you inside…" Cecile turned around, and looked him in the eye. "Are you sure nothing will appear?" She said, a look of uncertainty plastered on her face. "Um… Yes," Thomas nodded his head slowly, feeling a twinge of pain in his stomach, making him feel like that wasn't the answer. Cecile nodded slowly, unsure of this "Okay…"

She marched off, Thomas in close pursuit. He hoped to get out of the rain as soon as possible.

Thomas and Cecile walked into the entrance hall of the castle, Cecile clanking her way towards the stairs. She stopped, and turned around. "Are you going back to your old bedroom? Or is that still for the Flame Champion?" She asked curiously, her head tilted. "Oh, he let me have the bedroom back. So, I won't have to walk through more rain to get to the ship," he said, nodding. "Oh, ok!"

The both of them went separate ways, Cecile into the tavern to see if Nei and her friends we playing their instruments, and Thomas up to his bedroom.

Thunder crackled in the sky almost all day. When night had come, the clouds finally dissipated, and the wet grass shone slightly under the moonlight. The water in the fountain, which was located in the courtyard, began to glow a dim purple color. Much like the color of the magic the elf had cast much earlier that day and the water started to gurgle.

The purple hue faded slowly, and out of the water, rose a strange form. One of the koi had taken a humanoid form. The slender body and thing limbs suggest that it is possibly female, but the chest was flat, and the creature was covered in blue-gray scales. The head is more crocodilian than fish-like, except the creature has no teeth. A light pink, dorsal-like fin ran down it's back, and ended near were the tailbone would be. The legs are long, and end in a flopped out fin, much like a merperson's fin would be. The arms of the creature rubbed it's neck, and found that there were no gills. It gasped out for air, finding out it has another way to breathe now.

(A/N: o.O I know it seems a bit like the fish-people in Suiko IV, but I swear, I had made up this particular character before I even knew about the previous Suikodens)

Ok, how was this? I'm sorry it's.. LATE, but I've been uberly busy X-X


End file.
